Vampire Dating Agency III

by Rosette Bolter

  “He’s not answering?”

  “No, he’s not.”

  “Well, maybe he’s gone home too. Unless … Unless he’s been –”

  “It’s alright I’ll send Jason and Riley down to check on him. You can stay where you are.”

  “Alright. I … hope he’s okay.”

  “One more thing, Luna.”

  “Yes?”

  “What did Cresh want to keep you back for? Did he say anything like –”

  “He had it in his head that someone close to the team was the traitor. For some reason. I don’t know – we went through almost everyone’s file and we couldn’t find anything. Not that I’m sure we would have anyway. Unless you were like related to a vampire or something.”

  “Mmm. Well, I’m sure it’s not important.”

  “Cresh had it in his head you were the most likely candidate.”

  “Oh really? And why was that exactly?”

  “He didn’t say. Maybe you’re just too good at your job.”

  “Thanks,” Maurice said. “Anyway… Maybe it’s best you stayed somewhere else tonight. Just until we catch him. You know how the killer likes to pay home visits…”

  “Oh. Right.” Luna paused. “I just had an ugly thought.”

  “What’s that?”

  “What if the killer and the traitor are working together?”

  “I doubt it,” Maurice said. “The whole traitor angle has been blown out of proportion, I think. Anyway, I guess I should tell you who it –”

  Maurice stopped himself short.

  “Who it is?” Luna said. “You’re breaking up, Maurice.”

  He dropped the phone.

  “How long have you been there?” Maurice asked, his voice shaking.

  “Long enough,” Brock replied.

  He closed the door behind him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Nadine’s arms rested over the railing. To the night and sky before her, there were only a few hours left. She could feel the weight of the hand turning. She could feel the curtains begin to fall.

  The door opened to the side of her. Annabel stepped out and approached.

  “Aren’t you cold, human?” Annabel remarked. “You must be tired too.”

  “I’m very cold,” Nadine said.

  “Oh yes. I know.”

  Nadine turned to her right slightly. “Do you know who was out here?”

  “Come again?”

  “A couple sat here. A woman and a man. They might have been out here for a while. At some point … she fell. He disappeared.”

  “I’m a bit late to this front, I’m afraid,” Annabel said. “I’m sure there were all sorts of going-ons here though. They may not necessarily have anything to do with your case.”

  “I can feel his vibe here. It wasn’t the first time he killed someone on this balcony. It may not even have been his second.”

  “So we have quite the Sherlock here then, do we?”

  “Give me your hand.”

  Annabel’s eyes flared.

  “Trust me,” Nadine assured her. “Your hand.”

  Annabel stuck it out.

  Nadine turned the palm face up.

  “Okay, so … you have no idea what’s going on here,” Nadine said. “You’re being kept in the dark. Your father though, he might know something…”

  “You need my hand for that?”

  Nadine’s head titled forward. “You have a future. It’s … nothing to do with this place though. You’ve been waiting for someone … A romantic flame of some kind … He or she are on a journey somewhere. You’ve been waiting for them to come back to you, take you off into a place far from here.”

  “And my father?”

  Nadine shook her head. “He won’t follow you.”

  “I read palms too you know. Why don’t you give me your hand?”

  Nadine showed some reluctance.

  “Come now. Let’s be fair.”

  Annabel took her hand.

  She stared at her grinning. Didn’t even look at it.

  “Well?” Nadine said.

  “Troubling times ahead, dear. You might not make it out of this one.”

  Nadine ripped her hand back. “He’s here isn’t he?”

  Annabel nodded slowly.

  “Well. Why doesn’t he come to face me himself? Why does he send you?”

  “I think… He wanted to see if you would run.”

  “I could have run hours ago. I could have not shown up here at all.”

  “So. What should I tell him?”

  “About what?”

  “About whether you’re here to surrender. Or…”

  Nadine leaned in close to her. “You tell him that if he makes one move of violence on me then I will have his fucking head on a spike. Got it?”

  Annabel shrugged. “Message received.”

  She turned and walked back towards the door, but not without taking one last look back.

  “Good luck.”

  Annabel returned to the house.

  Nadine looked out over the edge again. She wondered how it would feel if she fell.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Luna had gone to bed soon after her call with Maurice ended. It didn’t last long.

  Before she knew it, she was out the door again and sitting in her car. If pulling out of her driveway at four a.m., all in the name of her affections for a married man seemed crazy – lying completely still staring up at the ceiling seemed even crazier.

  It didn’t make sense to her. The idea that someone was working against them. That they’d been betrayed. But with the sudden end to Maurice’s call, and Cresh not answering his phone, Luna feared the worst.

  The Paranormal Police were falling apart, and no one was safe.

  Within fifteen minutes she was back in the underground car park, making her way into the side entrance. She crossed through the main corridor till she reached the elevator, and took it up to the floor where she’d left Cresh. After a brief look in on Kendra’s office, she made her way down to Cresh’s.

  “Cresh…?”

  She switched on the light.

  The room was a disaster. The desk and chairs were knocked over, files were scattered everywhere. There was damage to the walls and the window at the back was shattered. Luna made her way through the wreckage towards Cresh who were trapped under various objects and furniture.

  “Oh no,” Luna moaned.

  Cresh’s shirt was ripped at the front and his chest was covered with blood. A deep wound to his neck oozed a steady stream of blood.

  “Cresh!” she cried. “Wake up!”

  Cresh’s eyes fluttered. He looked up at her and reached out for her cheek.

  “Hold on,” Luna whispered. “You’re going to make it…”

  “I know…” Cresh began. “I know who betrayed us…”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  This was it. The hour of reckoning. The moment of truth. Haley held her hands over her knees as the car inched forward to its unknown destination.

  The night was flashing before her eyes. All the little moments. The exchanges. She could still see her Mom in the car with her before they met with Ms. Armistice. How easy it would have been to just say … no. Let’s go home.

  The memories would stay with her. Even as time went on they wouldn’t fade. She would live there. A world that was once real would forever cast its shadow.

  Haley sat up. Kept her eyes from closing.

  Brock Ferns.

  Or the Count.

  They were all that was left. There was no other third party. No way to circumvent the inevitable path. Really, even with those two options, she knew who the killer was. She knew who would be waiting for her at the end of this road.

  Tears stream down Haley’s cheeks.

  It wasn’t sadness.

  It was grit.

  Her teeth, were jammed together.

  Her face was ice.

  She saw the needle in her mind, the needle that had suddenly ap
peared in Brock’s hand. Where had it come from? What possible explanation could he have for stabbing her with it? How … How could his love be nothing more than a fairytale? A fabrication?

  A complete lie.

  She looked outside the window. Recognized the area.

  No doubt, she was on her way to the house of all things corrupt and evil. The VDA. Vampire Dating Agency. Blackened at its root. Rotten to its core. As the gates came, and the car slowed down, she could even see the figure waiting for her in the distance. The tall man, standing on the front steps. His arms at his sides.

  “No,” Haley whispered.

  The gates opened for the car.

  “NO!” Haley shouted.

  Brock’s lightning blue eyes shot through the space between them, breaking Haley’s heart to pieces.

  She had prepared herself.

  Put up the walls in advance to protect from the hurt.

  But still the hurt came. It flowed across the walls like blood and venom, melting everything in its path.

  And perhaps in that moment…

  Haley knew what love truly was.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The Count was coming for her. Nadine could feel it. She could feel his mind moving in her direction. Once Annabel had left she waited a couple of minutes on the balcony before returning inside. She walked across to the stairs leading down to the ballroom downstairs, where many vampires had met their prospective dates and partners that evening. This is where Haley had been. When Madame Nightshade was first introducing her to each of her perspective suitors.

  Nadine could see it. As though it was happening to her.

  As though she was there.

  From on top this balcony the killer had peered down at her and made his selection of the crowd. But it was almost as though he had already known in advance what he was about to do. It had all been figured out ahead of time…

  Nadine shook her head. The images were fading.

  She then felt something else.

  A shadow creeping up the wall.

  She was being hunted.

  Nadine bowed her head and strode through the carpeted pathway. She passed through a fork and then found herself approaching the Count’s study. The door was open as she’d left it.

  “Any luck with the database –” Nadine began as she entered the room.

  Her eyes shot from the Count who was standing over the desk, to Maurice who was motionless in the chair, his head obliterated.

  “You really are a killer aren’t you?” Nadine said angrily. “I wonder how you’ll do with prey that’s isn’t cornered.”

  The door then slammed behind her.

  A shadow moved out behind it.

  Nadine turned to find herself being set upon by the vampiress, Kendra Armistice.

  “You were saying?” Kendra hissed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “Haley? Slow down. What are you –?”

  But it wasn’t time for words. It wasn’t time for manipulation.

  There was no fucking way he was going to get in.

  Ever.

  Brock put his arms up to shield himself as Haley sprung up from the road. Her left foot took out his right arm. Her right foot, his left. In the same breath she found herself at eye level with him, smashing her skull into his.

  Brock staggered back, his whole body deflating.

  But the light in his eyes seemed to grow brighter.

  “Okay,” he said. “That’s – I deserved that –”

  Haley wasn’t finished. She ran at him, her fists curled into balls of steel, lunging at figure in a frenzy. Brock made a feeble attempt to block her, but once it was broken through, more blows were landed to his chest and head.

  His knees bent.

  He wasn’t fighting her.

  He could barely even defend himself.

  “Stop please,” he gasped.

  “You want mercy?” Haley spat back. “Stop pretending! Show me who you really are!”

  “Haley, you know me. You know I… You know…”

  “What!?”

  Brock got to his feet.

  Haley watched the cuts and bruises on his face heal before her eyes.

  As if there was no damage.

  As if she hadn’t even begun to hurt him.

  “You’re not thinking clearly,” Brock said in a soft voice. “You’re tired. So, so, very tired –”

  “Shut the fuck up!”

  “Come to me, Haley,” Brock said opening his arms. “Let it all out. You know … You know I’m not your enemy…”

  Haley cringed.

  She could feel him getting to her.

  “Admit it,” she seethed.

  “Admit what?” Brock said innocently.

  “Admit who you are.”

  “You know who I am.”

  “Show me,” Haley said from behind clenched teeth. “You show me the true you.”

  “Haley, I –”

  “Take off the fucking mask!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “What’s happening out there?” Nadine asked, breaking the room’s silence.

  The Count looked at her inquisitively and then shifted towards the window.

  “Haley and Brock are fighting.” He turned back to her. “She thinks he’s the killer.”

  “I feel bad for them,” Nadine said. “Now we all know the truth.”

  The Count raised his eyebrows. “Do we?”

  Nadine glanced back at Kendra standing behind her. She took a step to the side to keep her in sight. “I think it’s pretty clear what’s been happening here. Between the two of you.”

  “Kendra and I are old friends,” the Count said. “Nothing more.”

  Nadine looked to Kendra.

  “What he said,” Kendra shrugged.

  “There’s a line,” Nadine said. “And its black and flaming and in the ground between us.”

  The Count took a step away from the window.

  “You’re on one side,” Nadine continued. “And I’m on the other.”

  Kendra moved in closer.

  “I think that in spite of this we should still respect one another,” Nadine went on. “In all things … Vampires and Humans. Killers and Detectives. Friends and enemies…”

  The Count’s lips parted.

  Dark goo salivated from his fangs.

  “We’re all the same. So we should just come out and say who we are.”

  “Anything for you, my dear,” the Count said.

  He put his hand to Nadine’s wrist.

  “I want to understand,” she said. “Is it that vampires are inherently evil? Are you incapable of becoming anything other than the monster that seeks its urge?”

  The Count felt her pulse.

  She knew it was steady.

  “All your questions have no meaning,” Kendra stated.

  “You’re to join us, Nadine,” the Count. “That’s all this has been building to. Soon, like Kendra, you’ll forget all your hang ups in the world. You’ll see how things truly are. You’ll see that all your old friends are but piles of meat supported by bones. Stuffed with delicious, eternal, blood.”

  “Is this the outlook of an enlightened being?” Nadine asked. “Or that of a mindless beast?”

  The Count’s smile faded.

  He let go of her wrist and grabbed hold of her neck.

  “I thought you might put up more of a fight,” the Count declared.

  “I haven’t begun to fight you yet,” Nadine said.

  “No?”

  “Does this feel like a fight to you?”

  “I guess it doesn’t.”

  At that moment the Count closed his eyes and bent down towards Nadine’s neck. His fangs extended. They grazed the skin.

  In the same movement however, Nadine’s hand had ripped into the weapon she’d been concealing behind her back.

  The Count’s eyes opened as the gun barrel reached his forehead.

  Nadine pulled the trigger.

  CHAPTER TWENTY
-EIGHT

  Brock’s face seemed lost. His eyes were confused and devastated. Haley didn’t believe it – the image of the man in front of her. She knew inside herself it was an illusion. It couldn’t be real. She wanted to keep going, keep pushing him to reveal the monster she’d been seeking tonight, but in a final twist of malevolence on his behalf, he had refused to show it. And now she had to question the courage of her convictions. Could she live with killing him now, and never really knowing for sure if he was the one?

  “What?” Brock said hopefully. “What is it?”

  “Stop it!” Haley shouted. “Get out of my head!”

  “Please,” he said standing back up. “I want to help you. Let me … Let me help you…”

  And Haley felt powerless. The strength inside her was crumbling.

  Fading away.

  She could see him.

  Taking her there…

  “Oh Haley,” Brock murmured, cradling her in his arms. “How I love you so…”

  The words stung.

  She could hear them in her head.

  She could hear the killer’s voice.

  “Get out of here…”

  He kissed her cheek.

  “It’s okay. You’re okay now.”

  BLAM – SHATTER –

  CRUNCH.

  A dark figure sprang out to the side of them.

  Haley and Brock both jumped back, startled.

  “So you’ve made up then?” Nadine asked coyly.

  “Where did you come from?” Haley replied suspiciously.

  “Look lovebirds,” Nadine snapped. “You’re going to want to get a move on. We’re going to have company soon.”

  “What’s going on?” Brock asked.

  “I suggest you follow me.”

  Nadine then took off in the direction of the car park.

  Haley and Brock looked at each other.

  “You know what she’s talking about?” Haley asked.

  Brock shook his head.

  He took a step down towards the direction Nadine had gone.

  She was already at her car. Getting inside.

  “Do you want to go with her?” Brock said quickly. “Yes or no? I think – I think you should.”